Apple climbs as App Store sales hit 15bn

APPLE customers have downloaded more than 15bn applications in the past three years, the company said yesterday, releasing figures that suggest the rate of downloads is sharply accelerating.

The latest figures from Apple show that customers have downloaded around 5bn apps so far this year, as the company said in January that it had just passed the 10bn download mark.

It took roughly two and a half years to reach 10bn downloads, but much of the period was spent without the popular iPad tablet, which has driven the demand for apps.

Apple has paid developers more than $2.5bn (£1.57bn) to develop for its online store, which currently contains around 425,000 apps for iPads, iPhones and iPod touches, it said.

More than 100,000 of those are native iPad apps, available to Apple customers across 90 countries.

“We knew the iPad was going to be a revolutionary storytelling device, but never could have anticipated it would become so popular, so quickly,” said Nicholas Callaway, chief executive of Callaway Digital Arts, which develops apps and has brought some of the world’s most popular books to the iPad.

Shares in Apple soared on the news, closing up 1.55 per cent on Nasdaq at $357.20, valuing the company at more than $325bn.